Reduced Muni cycle, hours poised to revert

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Frequency on Muni’s late-night Owl lines would return to every 30 minutes, the last runs on local and community bus routes would revert to their original times, and busy lines would have more vehicles out during the day to avoid overcrowding, under a proposed plan to restore recent service reductions in September.

Faced with mounting budget problems, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates Muni, implemented a 10 percent reduction May 8. The measure saved $29 million annually, but drew ire from transit advocates and local lawmakers.

Through a proposal that includes funding commitments from the San Francisco County Transportation Authority — which is governed by the Board of Supervisors — and the region’s lead transit-planning body, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the SFMTA has identified $11.9 million it can use to restore 5 percent of the recent service cuts Sept. 4.

As a result, several smaller bus lines, such as the 35-Eureka, will again start making their last trips at 11 p.m., 90 minutes later than the 9:30 p.m. time now employed. The F-Market streetcar line will run until 12:30 a.m., more than an hour later than its current 11:20 p.m. final run.

Five late-night Owl lines, including the L-Owl and the N-Owl, will begin operating every 30 minutes instead of 45 minutes. Nighttime service frequency also will be restored on lines like the 5-Fulton, and more buses will be added to routes such as the 1-California to reduce overcrowding during weekday commute times.

Overall, 42 of Muni’s 77 lines — about 55 percent of the transit agency’s bus, rail, cable car and streetcar lines — will have some sort of service enhancement under the proposal.

The SFMTA’s board of directors meeting today will act as the public hearing for the service-restoration proposal. It’s slated for noon in Room 406 at City Hall.